Upper Deck Masterpieces: Review & Trades?

2008 Upper Deck UD Masterpieces Review:

Basics:
What I opened: 3 UD Masterpieces blister packs from Wal*Mart
What I paid: $2.99 each ($8.97 total), 4 cards per pack
What I got: 10 cards
· 9 out of 90 regular base cards (10% of the set)
· 0 short prints out of 30
· 1 Relic card: Greg Maddux "Captured on Canvas" (with pinstripe from Cubs uniform)

First, the packs (in the order I opened 'em):

Pack 1:


The first pack contained:
#10 Nick Markakis
#14 Daisuke Matsuzaka (the pack cover boy by the way)
#28 Travis Hafner
#73 Freddy Sanchez
Not a bad pack, but not exciting to me either. The Sanchez card is quite nice I think, it's a rather unique view for a baseball card.



Pack 2:




The second pack contained:
#17 Manny Ramirez
#55 Johan Santana
#83 Ozzie Smith
#87 Michael Young
Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. I'm a sucker for the "old school" players, so seeing a nice Ozzie Smith card made me happy. I especially like the horizontal picture for both Ozzie and Johan Santana...that's sideways done right in my opinion.


Pack 3:

The third pack contained:
#81 Ichiro
#CC-GM Greg Maddux "Captured On Canvas" Relic card
Although I really like the relic card design, I was disappointed to find out that my pack only contained 2 cards. Futhermore, I already had the Ichiro card (my only double so far), so that was a bit of a let down. However, the relic card is NICE! I like the pinstripe, I like the card design, and I like how the material swatch fits nicely with the regular card stock in this set (unlike with glossy cards - Upper Deck X I'm looking at you, blech). I also like the dark frame, and heck, even the gold-lettering works for me.

Overall, I like the set. I had bought a few packs previously, so I now have 31 of the 90 base cards (no short prints) and the one relic card. I guess I should be happy I pulled the relic, but I think I actually would have preferred to get more of the base cards! After buying a few packs, I've decided that I really like UD Masterpieces. However (and this is important), there are 30 short prints in the set, and I haven't gotten one yet. That tells me that they are MUCH too rare - and as such, I probably won't be collecting the Masterpieces set. (I've got enough difficulty trying to put together my Allen & Ginter, Heritage, and Goudey sets with their short prints...I don't need anymore!)

The bottom line:

I give the 2008 UD Masterpieces set a solid 80 / 100.

Pros: I like the small set size and the base card design. I like the thick cardboard stock. I like the mix of new and old players.
Cons: I don't like short prints. I think that 4 cards for $3.00 is a bit steep, especially when one of the cards is a double! I don't like how Upper Deck refuses to put insertion odds on their packs, including the insertion odds for their short prints.